"Yes!"
At the command, the Nascent Soul domains of Gentle Wind Maid Hei Louxi, the True Yang Maid, the Thunder Maid, and the others spread out, binding every deputy officer except Gong Caiyu.
"My lord!"
"Please, no! We know we were wrong. Please give us another chance..."
"The Nascent Soul True Lords were too powerful. There was nothing we could do. We did not lose for lack of courage..."
The cold, merciless verdict came down.
Li Xiushui and the other subordinate maids wailed and begged for mercy, their tear-streaked faces like pear blossoms in the rain. They pleaded their cases, offering reasons that often sounded perfectly reasonable.
Two hundred years of confinement!
All rewards revoked, including their chances to reach the Nascent Soul realm!
Their Dao Heart scores set permanently to zero!
Each of these three punishments drove into their hearts and lungs like a steel nail, pinning their Dao Paths in place and leaving them no chance of ever reaching the Nascent Soul realm.
Most of them possessed no more than middling talent, at least among the many outstanding figures of the Northern Plains gathered in the Tushan Maid Corps.
Without the advantage their Dao Heart scores afforded them, they had no ability to glimpse the great Nascent Soul Dao again. Their prospects went utterly dark.
"Take them away. If any resist, execute them on the spot. No need for further words."
Jiang Ding waved a hand, his voice cold and devoid of mercy.
This was how cultivators should be treated when they had lost sight of what mattered most to them.
At that moment, he also examined his own heart. What mattered most to him?
The Immortal Sect and the sword Dao.
That was all.
No fog clouded Jiang Ding's mind. He saw his own foundations clearly.
Without